Guard-rail.



o. 0. SIMMONS.

GUARDRAIL. APPLIGATION FILED AUG. 26, 1909. 9 18,5597. Patented Feb. 8,1910.

i fli J 2! ,Ja L 1 I OSCAR C. SIMMONS, OF AVOCA, TEXAS.

GUARD-RAIL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 8, 1910.

Application filed August 26, 1909. Serial No. 514,820.

To all whom it'ma'y concern:

Be it known that I, OSCAR C. SIMMONS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Avoca, in the county 0f Jones and State of Texas, haveinvented a new and useful Guard-Rail, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to guard rail clamps and has for its object toprovide a device of this character which will brace the guard rail andsecurely hold it in proper position with relation to the main track railwithout the use of the usual spacing blocks interposed between the mainrail and the guard rail.

Another object is to provide a device of this character which will haveno bolts or similar connections to pass through the web of either theguard rall or main rail.

A further object is to provide a device of this character which willhold the main rail from spreading relatively to the guard rail.

A still further object is to provide a de vice of this character whichwill prevent the creeping of the guard rail.

With the above advantages and other obj ects in view which will appearas the nature of my invention is better understood, my inventionembraces the novel details of construction and the combination of partsillustrated in the accompanying drawings, described in the followingspecification and set forth in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawing :-Figure 1 is a perspective view of a mainrail with the guard rail and clamps in position. Fig. 2 is a transversesectional view taken on the line A-A, Fig. 1. Fig. 8 is a transversesectional view taken on the line BB, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a perspectiveview of a section of a railway curve, showing the main rails braced bymy improved clamps. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of my improved clamp. v

Like characters of reference designate similar parts in the view shown.

Referring now to the drawings, 1 designates a main rail and 2 designatesthe guard rail, the opposite ends of which are turned inward in theusual manner.

Arranged beneath the main and guard rails are the clamping devices 3,one of which is disposed adjacent each end of the guard rail and anotherpositioned intermediate the ends of the guard rail and preferablyopposite the frog point of the opposite main rail which is not shown inthe drawing. Each of the clamping devices coinprise a base plate lconstituting a support for the guard and main rails and which isprovided with openings 5 through which spikes 6 are driven to secure thebase plate to the tie.

Formed adjacent one end of the base plate is an integral clamping block7 having a face 8 to conform to the outline of and snugly fit over theouter side of the web, base flange and under surface of the head of theguard rail. The outer surface 9 of the clamping block 7 is sloped asshown, to provide a wedge-shaped clamp to firmly brace the guard railand positively prevent the accidental turning over of the same.

Arranged adjacent the clamping block 7 is an integral wedge-shapedclamping block 10 having formed on its thickened end a face llshaped toconform to the outline of and snugly fit over the inner side of the web,base flange and under surface of the head of the guard rail. The outersurface 12 of this clamping block is rounded downwardly as shown, andterminates in a substantially vertical end face 13.

The base plate is considerably thickened adjacent the end remote fromthe clamping blocks, to provide a rabbet 14 adapted to receive the baseflange of the main rail. The base flange of the main rail is thusclamped between the wall 15 of the rabbet and the vertical face 13 ofthe adjacent clamping block 10, the particular advantage of thisconstruction being to prevent the main rail from spreading in relationto the guard rail. In order to prevent the creeping of the guard railthe base portion of the clamping block 10 is engaged in a recess 16formed in the flange ofthe main rail, the vertical face 13 of theclamping block being held in contact with the opposed wall 17 of therecess, as shown.

As may be seen by referring to Fig. 1, only the block 10 of theintermediate clamping device is engaged in a recess formed in the baseflange of the main rail. The block 10 of this clamping device is madeslightly longer than in the terminal clamping devices so that thevertical face 13 will abut the opposed face of the recess in the mainrail flange, as above described, and hold the base flange of the mainrail snugly impinged against the wall 15 of the rabbet, while at thesame time the side faces of the block engage the opposed side faces ofthe recess 16 and positively prevent the longitudinal creeping of theguard rail.

A modified form of my device is shown in Fig. 4, in which the clampingblocks are shown applied to the main rails of a curve and operate toprevent the spreading of the rails in relation to each other and tobrace and strengthen the rails against turning over. In this case thebase plate 18 is sufficient in length to extend beyond the base flangesof both rails and is provided with spike holes 19 adjacent the ends andintermediate the rails through which spikes are driven to secure thebase plate to the tie. The bracing and clamping blocks 20 are formedintegral with the base plate and are spaced a sufficient distance apartto inclose the webs and flanges of the rails, as above described. Itwill be noted that the blocks 21 having the greatest body are placedadjacent the ends of the base plate, so as to bear upon the outer facesof the rails and brace the same against turning over.

From the above description, taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawing, it is thought that the construction and operation of myinvention will be easily understood without a more extended explanationit being understood that various changes may be made in the form,proportion and minor details of construction without departing from thespirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

That is claimed is A guard rail clamping and bracing device consistingof a base plate adapted to support a main and a guard rail upon a tie,said base plate having a rabbet in its top face to receive the baseflange of the main rail, a wedge-shaped block upon the base plate havingits thick end formed with a face to conform to the Web, bottom face ofthe head and top face of the flange upon the inner side of the guardrail, and its thin end formed with a substantially flat face to engagethe opposed longitudinal edge of the main rail flange and hold saidflange snugly impinged against the Wall of said rabbet, and a secondwedge-shaped block upon the base plate having its thick end formed witha face to conform to the web, bottom face of the head, and top face ofthe flange upon the outer side of the guard rail.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aflixedmy signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

OSCAR C. SIMMONS.

WVitnesses T. WV. PRICE, R. D. MORGAN.

